In this lesson, you will learn how to make clauses with ~느냐에 따라서 to create the meaning of “depending on…”. Following this, you will learn how to use ~따라서 to create the meaning of “as I…” In addition, you will take a closer look at what 따라서 actually means by studying the word itself, as well as another grammatical principle in which is it used.

Depending on…: ~느냐에 따라서…

Adding ~느냐에 따라서 after a verb creates the meaning of “depending on _____.” By using this form you could make the following types of clauses:

Notice that those three clauses include the use of a “question word.” In these cases, the translations of ~느냐 따라서 sentences usually take the form of:

Depending on (question word)….

However, if no “question word” exists in the clause, the word “if” is used in translation. For example:

우리가 내일 가느냐에 따라서… = Depending on if we go tomorrow

In Lesson 30, you learned about using the grammatical principle “~하는 지.” For example:

엄마가 공부한 지 몰라요 = I don’t know if mom studied

You also learned that you can use “하는 지 안 하는 지” to create the meaning of “I don’t know if _____ or not.” For example:
엄마가 공부한 지 안 한 지 몰라요 = I don’t know if mom studied or not

You can use this same idea in ~느냐에 따라서 sentences. For example:

우리가 내일 가느냐 안 가느냐에 따라서… = Depending on if we go or not…

You can now use these clauses in sentences where appropriate. However, the clause after ~느냐에 따라서 has a typical form that is used.
Aside from natural sounding clauses that you could make to follow ~느냐에 따라서 (for example 네가 내일 언제 가느냐에 따라서 저는 갈지도 몰라요 = Depending on what time you go tomorrow, I might go) sentences following ~느냐에 따라서typically end with달라질 수 있다 (to be able to be different) or 다르다 (usually written as 달려 있다).

Using these as the ending to a sentence with ~따라서 indicates that “the result could change” depending on how something is done. For example:

우리가 내일 언제 가느냐에 따라서 달라질 수 있어요 = It could be different depending on when we go tomorrow (notice that we wouldn’t actually say it like this in English, but this is how it is said in Korean).

In theory, you could put a noun before “다르다” or “달라질 수 있다” to indicate what will change depending on the variable in the first clause. Note that this must be a noun because the following word is an adjective, which can only describe nouns.

For example:
우리가 내일 언제 가느냐에 따라서 저의 행복이 달라질 수 있어요 = (I guess this would translate to): I will be happy depending on when we leave tomorrow – although it literally translates to “my happiness could be different depending on when we leave tomorrow.”

The most common noun to come before “따라서” in this situation is “미래.” Using “미래” in these sentences creates the meaning of “depending on ______, you future could be different” or “your future depends on _______.” For example:

얼마나 저축하느냐에 따라 미래가 달라질 수 있다 = Depending on how much you save up, your future could be different
열심히 공부하느냐에 따라 미래가 달라질 수 있다 = Depending on if you study hard, your future could be different.

Although you can use adverbs like “얼마나” and “열심히” in these sentences, a typical adverb that is used with ~느냐에 따라서 is “어떻게.” “어떻게” is used in situations even if you are not trying to say “how” in the sentence. For example:

어떻게 저축하느냐에 따라 미래가 달라질 수 있다 = Depending on how much you save up, your future could be different
어떻게 공부하느냐에 따라 미래가 달라질 수 있다 = Depending on if you study, your future could be different

Technically, those sentences should translate to “Depending on how…”, but like I said, 어떻게 is often used in these sentences regardless of if you are actually want to say “how.”

Another word you could use in place of “달라질 수 있다” or “다르다” is “결정되다,” which means “to be decided.” For example:

얼마나 저축하느냐에 따라서 미래가 결정돼요 = Depending on how much you save up, your future could be decided
열심히 공부하느냐에 따라서 미래가 결정돼요 = Depending on if you study hard, your future could be decided

Other examples:
대학에 가느냐 안 가느냐에 따라서 나의 미래가 달려 있어 = Depending on if you go to University or not, your future could be different
어떻게 일하느냐에 따라서 너의 성공이 달려 있어요 = Depending on how hard you work, your success could be different

In addition to all of this, ~는 가에 따라서 is sometimes used instead of ~느냐에 따라서. In these cases, ~는 가 is always used and ~ㄴ/은 가 or ~ㄹ/을 가 are not used. For example:

Though ~는 가 is possible in Korean, my grandmaster Korean grammar teacher tells me that this is an incorrect expression. It may be an accent of some area, as some people do say this,but you should use ~느냐에 따라서 instead.

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As I…: ~ㅁ/음에 따라서

By attaching ~ㅁ/음에 따라서 to a verb at the end of a clause, you can create the meaning of “as I…” The verbs are not conjugated into the past tense even though this usage usually refers to the past tense. For example:

The difference being that ~ㅁ/음에 따라서 stresses that there is/was some sort of process involved. You could technically say that the first two would be better off with the word “progressively” in them, for example:

As I progressively learned Korean…
As I progressively traveled around Europe…

Following this, a clause that indicates what happened as a result of this progressive change is usually used. For example:

제가 한국어를 배움에 따라서 영어문법을 더 잘 이해했어요 = As I learned Korean, I understood English grammar better (which is actually true for me – I understand English grammar MUCH better now that I have learned a foreign language).

제가 유럽에 여행함에 따라서 유럽문화에 관심이 생겼어요 = As I traveled around Europe, I developed an interest for European culture

This same principle can be applied to adjectives as well. For example:

제가 가까움에 따라서… = As I got close…
제가 키가 더 큼에 따라서… = As I got taller…

However, when using adjectives, the use of ~아/어지다 (which you learned about in Lesson 18) is typically used with ~ㅁ/음에 따라서. For example:

So, now that you know all of this, what does the word 따라 actually mean? Actually, 따라 is from 따르다 which means “to follow.” This word actually forms another grammatical principle that I would like to discuss in the next section.

In accordance to…:~에 따라(서)

As I mentioned, 따르다 means “to follow.” In practice, this word is often combined with 오다, 가다 or 하다. For example:

However, when ~에 따라(서) is placed after a noun, it has the meaning of “in accordance with…”
길 안내에 따라서 우리는 저 쪽으로 가 야 돼요 = According to the directions (in accordance with the directions), we must go that way

미국헌법에 따라 사람들은 총을 가지고 있을 권리가 있어요 = According to the American Constitution, Americans have the right to possess guns
사람들은 그 나라의 문화에 따라 행동을 해 야 돼요 = People should act according to (in accordance with) the culture of a country

Note that this meaning is similar to “if we follow…” For example:

If we follow the directions we must go that way
If we follow the American constitution, people have the right to possess guns
People should follow the culture of a country

This is why ~에 따라(서) has the meaning that does.

That’s it for this lesson, but there are still a few things I want you to know about ~에 따라(서). They don’t quite fit the meanings discussed in this lesson, so I will present them in the upcoming lesson!

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